/əbˈhɔː/, /əbˈɔː/, /æbˈhɔɹ/
OriginFirst attested in 1449, from Middle English abhorren, borrowed from Middle French abhorrer, from Latin abhorreō (“shrink away from in horror”), from ab- (“from”) + horreō (“stand aghast, bristle with fear”).
- transitiveTo regard (someone or something) as horrifying or detestable; to feel great repugnance toward.
“I absolutely abhor being stuck in traffic jams.”
“Let loue bee without dissimulation: abhorre that which is euill, cleaue to that which is good.”
“Many vegetarians abhor the thought of killing animals to feed themselves and also the methods by which animals are slaughtered.”
- impersonal, obsolete, transitiveTo fill with horror or disgust.
“But neuer taynt my Loue. I cannot say Whore,
It do's abhorre me now I speake the word,
To do the Act, that might the addition earne,
Not the worlds Masse of vanitie could make me.”
- transitiveTo turn aside or avoid; to keep away from; to reject.
- obsolete, transitiveTo protest against; to reject solemnly.
“I vtterly abhorre; yea, from my Soule
Refuse you for my Iudge, whom yet once more
I hold my most malicious Foe, and thinke not
At all a Friend to truth.”
- intransitive, obsoleteTo feel horror, disgust, or dislike (towards); to be contrary or averse (to); construed with from.
“Also in those daunces were enterlased dities of wanton loue or ribaudry, with frequent remembrance of the moste vile idolis Venus and Bacchus, as it were that the daunce were to their honour and memor”
“Either then the law by harmless and needful dispenses, which the gospel is now made to deny, must have anticipated and exceeded the grace of the gospel, or else must be found to have given politic and”
- intransitive, obsoleteDiffer entirely from.
Formsabhors(present, singular, third-person) · abhorring(participle, present) · abhorred(participle, past) · abhorred(past) · abhor(infinitive) · abhor(first-person, present, singular) · abhorred(first-person, past, singular) · abhor(present, second-person, singular) · abhorrest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · abhorred(past, second-person, singular) · abhorredst(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · abhorreth(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · abhorred(past, singular, third-person) · abhor(plural, present) · abhorred(past, plural) · abhor(present, subjunctive) · abhorred(past, subjunctive) · abhor(imperative, present) · -(imperative, past)